Weed

Marijuana has moved out of the back alleys and into the open. In some states it's legal to grow, to sell, to smoke and marijuana could be legalized in a city near you. But could pot actually be good for you? The journey begins in a small town home, nestled in the mountains, with the family who has never allowed TV cameras in before.

They live in Colorado, one of two states where it's legal to smoke pot medically and recreationally. Medical dispensaries are everywhere; people are smoking in private clubs and public festivals. Just decades ago marijuana was a legitimate medication also called cannabis, prescribed by doctors and dispensed by pharmacies, but that all changed in 1930. For Harry Anslinger, the United States first drug czar, public enemy number one, you guessed it, was marijuana.

He got the anti marijuana message out through news reports and then came the film Reefer Madness portraying the users of marijuana as unproductive, and crazed. Marijuana then became illegal in 1937 and by 1970 it was a Schedule I controlled substance. The government was saying it had no medicinal value and had a high potential for abuse. Marijuana is made up of two ingredients: THC which is the psychoactive part that makes you high, and CBD, also called cannabidiol, that scientists think it modulates the electrical and chemical activity in the brain.

"Medical marijuana is not new, and the medical community has been writing about it for a long time. There were in fact hundreds of journal articles, mostly documenting the benefits. Most of those papers, however, were written between the years 1840 and 1930. The papers described the use of medical marijuana to treat neuralgia, convulsive disorders, emaciation, among other things."

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66 Comments / User Reviews

Imightberiding

Can you imagine a world where marijuana was legal? ... "And I think to myself; what a wonderful world."

Cannabis: Yes please!

oQ

Imagine what CBD can do to a person who is well already.

yellowmattercustard

Imagine what THC can do to a person already well

yellowmattercustard

Serious question. Do you really worry yourself with the legalities of smoking weed?

yellowmattercustard

I use CBD weed. It's also kind of a body "fix". Good for the aching bones.

bringmeredwine

Hahahaha!
You're so funny!

idealpointer

imagine if we all started to shoot heroin!.. just saying

idealpointer

if you are a weed smoker that doesn't think it is fair to be prosecuted for smoking a joint then yeah bud, I guess you do!

1concept1

I kind of like it being illegal? I mean either way.

oQ

imagine if we all stopped drinking coffee...just replying

yellowmattercustard

Then I would have to shoot heroin.

yellowmattercustard

I understand what your are saying but I wasn't asking in that way. To get busted for weed in my neck of the woods is really really hard to do. You have to put forth an effort. Maybe ask a cop to hold your bowl while you tie your shoe. It is in that perspective I ask.

yellowmattercustard

I'm glad it helped that little girl.

bringmeredwine

Me too, and those brothers were so generous.

bringmeredwine

Thanks for the laugh!

bringmeredwine

I'd hate to get caught. Haven't smoked in years. A police record is the last thing I'd want now. Its not safe around here, to smoke out in the open. When I was young and stupid I didn't care.

Imightberiding

That is kind of my point. It is still possible to get busted. No one needs the added stress of breaking the law while attempting to relieve symptoms of a medical disability or simply relaxing after a long day at work.

Imagine the different outcomes of being pulled over by a cop if he or she had just taken a nice little pull on a blunt. Much fewer cases of harassment & police brutality would be my guess.

Again: ..."and I think to myself; what a wonderful world."

I should add. While I have used in the past on a very small level, it has been quite some time since I have last enjoyed the benefits of marijuana. Although it is not my thing, I strongly advocate the legal right to access & use this amazing plant for both medical & personal reasons.

I think the benefits have been shown to far out-weigh the detriments.

By the way. I live on southern Vancouver Island. Pot is pretty much like any other salad herb around here. Not high on the police radar but still illegal.

Imightberiding

Forgot to ask, which "neck of the woods" do you live in where it is so difficult to get arrested? Or would answering that question just bring unnecessary heat down on you?

Imightberiding

Thanks for the generous response. HehHehHeh! You must be soooooo high right now.

I know, I know. It's all in your past. Me too.

sta8ce

yes,
because alcohol is so benign.

pot heads aren't the cause of thousands of deaths, rapes, accidents, and god knows what other horrible shite each year.....infact, heroin addicts aren't even in that boat. even heroin addicts just score their bag, go home, and peacefully nod.

shooting heroin????(shakes head, rolls eyes)

Psych3d

Another counterpoint to those trying to convince people that "when you can just get it "round the corner" legally, more people will use it": It is and has always been already available "around the corner" anyway, if you are blind to that, then you do not know what you are talking about, so anyone might as well go buy it legally without the burden this "war on drug" policy has brought upon the very people it was supposed to protect... xcuse me for trollin, but, *itches please... liston to reason and f a c t s...

Gordon Giroux

war on drugs, bahahah what a crock of s*it hey?

oQ

I hear the grow scene can be a little hazardous on the coast.The occasional smokers is certainly surrounded by like minded though.
edit: meant to write "the recreational smokers".

Paul Gloor

Let's not delude ourselves here.. Weed is a recreational drug, it happens to have medicinal benefits. That's the long and short of the whole argument.
I'm in favor of it, it creates pacifists, it helps people with pain and cancer and a host of other problems and it makes you feel good. How can it be as terrible as cigarettes and alcohol ?

Samuel Morrissey

You know what the phrase 'war on drugs' implies?

There's a war going on and the people on drugs are winning.

Bill Hicks R.I.P.

Samuel Morrissey

The irony now is that more than any other group, the people in our developed counties who either import or grow for profit, the dealers below them and so on absolutely do NOT want it to be legalised as it will destroy their inflated income. Tobacco is made artificially expensive with tax, yet you can still buy 25 grams for under £10 - weed is currently retailing on the black market at £10 per gram, with none of the usual variation between rural and urban areas. If everyone is allowed to grow their own, its monetary value will plummet.

The politicians couldn't give a flying fig one way or another, for them it's about courting the electorate and since 75%+ of the 20-30% of people who vote are firmly entrenched in the 'drugs r bad mmk' lines it's a no brainer to predict which way they will lean. I guarantee that the UK will be the last nation on Earth to legalise weed for recreation, as a subtle form of fascism swept away the last traces of democracy in these lands before I was born. Don't worry, we're working on it... but we will lag behind as we do in nearly every progressive thing. I swear one day Britain will be a museum of ancient Europe, not through choice but simply not moving with the times (and in many cases moving directly against the times)

oQ

I can tell you from a grower's perspective (people I know), a pound of outdoor weed was selling $3000 in 2000, it now goes for $600, a pound of indoor weed went for $2400 a year ago, it now sells for $1200...those who know the amount of work, equipment and cost involved in growing pot, realize it is not inflated.
Tobacco sells for less because most smokers do not want to buy it unprocessed, plus it's against the law to grow and sell tobacco. A restaurant in my town had a few tobacco plants in their front window as a decoration, the city made them pull them off.

Samuel Morrissey

Sorry not in my experience, I can tell you from a growers perspective (people I know) that there is very little work involved, it grows itself. You shell out for the kit, complex or simple (a few hundred £), then you pay your electricity for the light. (a few hundred £) Yes you keep an eye on them, water/feed levels daily etc. etc. but this is not a lot of work for a few months, even for one person and a normal room filled with plants (a few hundred £). Harvesting is more intensive granted but only for a week or so. If you're new to it or otherwise don't know what you're doing, you could inadvertently make more work for yourself, I suppose. Off one plant you may harvest up to about 10 ounces if you're good, less if you're not so good, obviously varies between breeds. In a room you might have 25 plants. I am going to do some simple math here.

1 person shells out maybe £2000 total covering all costs including seeds. From that initial outlay with the right breed and diligent green fingers this 1 person grows 25 plants. They're not all perfect so lets say 5 ounces off each plant, after 3 months. that's 125 ounces or roughly 9 pounds. Here in UK that sells for £10 a gram. that's £10x28x125 which is £35,000. For 1 person, doing 3 months babysitting then a couple of weeks harvesting.

Those who are doing this for profit will not alter their price depending on amount so you want an ounce? £280. For profit of £33,000 in 3 months, that's £11,000 a month for growing weeds and you're telling me it's not inflated? get the [expletive] out of here.

Maybe there in Canada, it is different? I would assume attitudes are not as hard and profit motivated.

yellowmattercustard

I live in a very liberal college town in a very liberal state. We have medical marijuana which means we're awash in weed. Our town also keeps a tight rein on the police force. Taken all together I'll have to say, "They've got the guns. We've got the numbers."*

The only exception is if you get busted for DUI. Don't have so much as an empty pipe with resin.

Possession of 1 oz or less is a civil matter so you do not have a police or criminal record. It's the same as receiving a parking ticket.

*The Doors

yellowmattercustard

I have a couple of good friends who grow medical marijuana and they put in a fair amount of work. It's an indoor grow and that requires a pretty substantial investment. We have some of the cheapest electric rates to be found and their electric bill runs from the high hundreds to about $1000 a month.

Couple of things to remind you of. Someone has to be with that crop 24/7 or it will be stolen. Also exact temps, humidity, ventilation, and light exposure must be maintained or your will have a worthless crop.

Finally, I believe you're not factoring in the risk if it is grown illegally. In my opinion no amount of money is worth sitting in a prison cell.

yellowmattercustard

Since we voted in medical marijuana (9 years) the price of an 1/8 oz of primo knock-your-socks-off has dropped from $50 (US) to $25-$30. Lucky me.

Samuel Morrissey

All fair points, but even if you take another £1500 for electricity, someone who lives where the plants are grown will be there 24/7, you pay them £500 per month so another £1500 off - the value if you will not alter your price for amounts (and people will bite your hand off for it even when it isn't ready) is £30,000. Has the value of money doubled in the last 20 years? because the price of weed has at least tripled.

And no, I refuse to factor the illegality, as that is the direct cause of the inflation. It is the illegality that videos like this, myself and many others contend with. It is the illegality which grants the impetus to profiteers to push up the price. like you say, 'no amount of money is worth sitting in a prison cell' so there really is no limit apart from what people will pay. I understand that not everybody who grows is doing it like this, but the vast majority of what is sold and smoked in the UK is grown and sold this way, and I say that as someone who has seen it first hand at every level in the chain. It probably has something to do with our dog eat dog island mentality.

yellowmattercustard

I understand what you are saying but you have to factor in the risk. If a grower gets busted and has to go to prison for a couple of years then that would be two years without income plus legal fees, confiscation of equipment, confiscation of assets and a really piss-poor social life. I wouldn't call it inflation. I'd call it unemployment insurance.

Samuel Morrissey

When price increases for no proportional reason, like increased costs, then it is inflation pure and simple. If you are smart the risk is actually negligible, I know people who do it their entire lives. If you get caught you were not so smart - and why should I pay for your profiteering unsafe practices? If you sold it at a reasonable price that covered your costs plus a reasonable profit, you could sell more to fewer people = less risk. 8-900% profit or thereabouts is far too much I'm afraid considering for 3 months work you could live very comfortably for the remaining 9 in that year.

There are 2 distinct and invariably separate worlds in the weed industry. People who grow a bit for themselves and sell a bit to their mates (who do the same) at reasonable prices, for a little income boost and a smoke, and people often in gangs who intensively factory farm it to get rich quick. It is the profiteers who take the risks and it is them who get caught with infrequent exception. The quality of factory farmed hand bitten off weed is highly variable, usually not cured properly etc. plus it's a really risky operation honest, not a making money fast process... pull the other one. I'm almost happy to see them go down when they do, this is poor people fleecing other poor people for as much as they can. Like I said, here in UK - this is Great rip off Britain!

yellowmattercustard

Sorry, I just see it differently than you see it. May you have legal weed someday.

yellowmattercustard

There's a lot of CBD weed available here. Many medical weed users don't necessarily appreciate the benefits of a good buzz.

Samuel Morrissey

No need to apologise, we can disagree - obviously where we live is markedly different in many sociopolitical aspects. I was careful to note that this is only my experience in the UK. My point is if you're trying a get rich quick scheme then there will be more risk by its very nature.

Mark my words though, the UK will drag feet like a sulking schoolboy behind Europe, the US, Canada and probably most countries on Earth in this issue amongst a great many others.

One day maybe, or I'll emigrate...

yellowmattercustard

A positive side of medical weed. Do you think those brothers would have grown CBD weed without a state sanction?

yellowmattercustard

Reminds me of the Cheech and Chong movie. Their van constructed of weed is on fire and the cop gets behind to pull them over. They stop. When he walks up to them he's so stoned he can't even remember why he pulled them over.

"You gonna eat that hot dog?"

oQ

I live in a town where pot growing is the biggest industry next to tourism and skiing.
People don't grow from seeds but from clones. You count your harvest by lights not by plants. How long is the vegging time? How big are the plants?
The prices have gone drastically low in Canada with the medical licences which were very easy to get for the last 3-4 years.
No grower sells by the gram....unless he's crazy....and if he is imagine the time it takes in your scenario to sell 252 grams.

Imightberiding

That actually came to mind as soon as I typed that sentence about the police.

Imightberiding

Corvallis, OR?

Brad Lancaster

all old news, but we need the money, not just the private sector! lots of fly by nights go in to simple franchise and real estate developments to jump into big credit. if you think this sate of ignorance is helping the economy your falling behind. its a free market and every things up for grabs. eventually what is on sale is too much and one person or just a few have every thing. nature of the beast the pig swells up till it can't fight any more, we civilization kill them and start over again. It's going bust naturally, we've won the war on drugs. ID check your kids before you sell them drugs SIR! that's the front line of keeping kids off drugs, give them to adults, and be one when your off them for a change

Samuel Morrissey

Look, I'm not questioning your personal knowledge of the process, I'm confident you know how people grow really nice cannabis. In fact you make my point better than I do - it is practically legal where you are and the price has plummeted. Here the penalties are excessive in terms of time and record for growers/dealers, but not so serious for buyers. Certain people who sell it are too often taking advantage of the artificially high price and do not want things to change at all. In this way, they become part of the problem rather than the solution. When it comes to gangs, they are in far more danger physically speaking from another gang who might want to take their turn on the local racket than they are from the legal consequences. All the arguments about it being involved with and fueling more serious crimes are unfortunately true in this case, though the faulty law is the underlying cause.

You don't sell by the gram the price is by the gram. It is a fairly recent development as I recall, having started in the cities maybe 6-7 years back is now everywhere. Where I am is about as rural as this country gets, so here recreational smokers might buy fractions of an ounce, recreational growers work in ounces as always, factory farmers sell by the kilo - which is now charged by the gram to a nationwide flat street price, that is making local increases up to 50% more for 'particular' risks or trendy breeds etc.. Now I can respect entrepreneurial talent, and apart from the risk from gangs I can't argue that people are stupid to attempt to spend a few years making a small mountain of cash, especially if they are successful, what with all the inequality and so on.

But it is still wrong, to extort buyers like this, who do not all have the security nor space to grow their own... The inequality is not a good excuse.

Care to swap democracies sometime?

Roger Rocker

Charlotte's father said it well, 'it seems to build her brain'.

That is exactly what marijuana does and that is why it has been suppressed for over three generations.

Stack On

oQ

Very good comment and I totally agree with you concerning your reality and you seem to see mine too. I agree that we live in two very different surrounding. I live in a town that was always known for being the hippie capital of BC and where the pot business became a natural thing to do for a living. There has been a huge amount of people growing dope around here since the 1980, indoor growing started flourishing right then and the book Marijuana Botany was on every kitchen counter. People became expert at growing in basement condition of all kinds and the grow room got bigger. It is estimated that 1 out of 5 house has a grow up or is connected to the business in a direct way. Pot has always been cultivated in a connective way everyone supporting each other by connection of friends of friends, gang were never interested as there are tons of easier places to impose themselves.
Yes, the growers did make a killing for a long time and many of them spent it on taking full winter off to be a ski bum at the local ski hill or a backpacker in some foreign sunny place. People shopped home, they ate in restaurants, they bought sport equipment for all seasons, they lived a good life and most of the cash was reinvested in the town. It made for a happy place to live, stoned.
So yes I agree with you, the price has plummeted partly because there is so much of it. Those who weren't willing to grow illegal got licence to grow and are now on the market too.
I just swap my democracy.

bringmeredwine

I have no idea. (I don't even know what day it is). But they did appear to be extremely well organised and established. They might have already known about the benefits of the higher CBD strains and grown it any way.

bringmeredwine

Hahahaha!
God I feel old!

Abdul KSA

It seems that Charlotte's parents tried everything except prayer.There are recommended prays in the Glorious Quran that are very powerful in warding off Jinn (evil spirit)possession.Any intoxicant cannot be used as a cure for an illness.Beware, the shaytan(satan) is very,very slick.

Kansas Devil

I wonder just how dedicated these growers are to the medical aspects of marijuana when most of them seem to focus most of their effort on producing varieties that is more attractive for the psychotropic effect.
This documentary should embarrass them when they see what the non-narcotic chemical in marijuana can do to give life to a little girl.
The love of money clouded their morals just like the love of fear over marijuana clouds the thinking of US health agencies.

Kansas Devil

I suspect they would not have even considered investigating CBD unless they had been placed in a situation where they were comfortable enough with their business.
The illegality aspect causes the mind to focus on the money more than the art of horticulture.

Rebott

How do you know they didnt pray? And can you support your claim that prayer has had any effect on any disease or disorder?

banished jester

In truth this is nothing more than public relations BS. The benefits of cannabis have been documented for far longer than anyone able to read this has been alive. There have been numerous studies acknowledging the fact that marijuana use is no threat to society. Perhaps the most infamous of all was the 1944 LaGuardia Commission Report. It was done directly as a response to concerns over pot caused by "Reefer Madness" hysteria. Of course the public was never important enough to inform them of the results on a massive scale. CNN's current stunt is to make like they never knew anything about the subject and have only recently begun to dig into the matter. Complete B.S.
DO NOT let this crap fool you. The people who continue to perpetrate the despicable crimes of prohibition have to be held to account for their century long unjust warfare against the people who use nature to its utmost benefit. The agencies and individuals responsible for prohibition have so much blood on their hands it hardly matters anymore. The first thing that needs to be done is to STOP the tyranny madness and then dismantle the remainder of government piece by piece and fast. Until that happens we will find no success in begging for freedom from the master that beats us; and rapes us; and tortures us; and murders us; and taxes us; and undermines us; and forces us to pay for that slavery. Pure B.S.

LITOSWEED

Bullcrap ... Thai stick was produced in the 70's and it was way more than 1%
Get your facts straight !

Bogdan Gherghel

Admin, will you move all the cannabis documentaries from the "Drugs" category into "Health" category? Please?

chuckym

i smoked thai in the sixties in southeast asia and yeah it was very potent More than 1%

oQ

I can, what I have a problem forseeing is what happens to those in jail all over the world (not just rich developed countries) for growing, transporting, selling and consuming.

disqus_KaGdwj0Fv8

NOOOO, im all for cannabis legalization but its still a drug. At most just duplicate the video under both health and drugs.

disqus_KaGdwj0Fv8

lol that's the equivalent to getting mad at NASCAR drivers for speeding when their actions have horrible consequences outside the track. Im sure there are some medical advantages to marijuana, most of which have not been clearly identified but that does not mean it should be everyone's focal point. Not everyone cares about the medical aspect of the drug, some care more about its political implications and others more about its economic ones. Basically your griping at people for living their life as they see fit because some people still suffer, welcome to reality.

disqus_KaGdwj0Fv8

Lol or we can just read them some dr.seus books, it will have the same effect on the child and she may actually enjoy those. ugh religious ideologies creep me out.

Abdul KSA

Many people are perpetually 'spaced out' by marijuana that they don't even know that they are intoxicated.Silliness has become part of their personality that they can't distinguish a fairy-tale from reality.

Woodstuck

Grow your own meds while you watch - weedsthatplease com -

Vin LoPresti

I have myoclonus (severe painful spasms) in my shoulder & base of skull (read: serious headaches) secondary to a stroke, years ago. CBD is a HUGE help. I wish I could get the Colorado strain that's 15% CBD; locally available ones are only about 5%. Anyone who disses medical cannabis after watching Charlotte's story is closed-minded, at best. Wake up!! Yeah, I'm all for keeping it away from kids under 18. I didn't initially smoke until I was 20, but then, as an adult in my 40s and 50s, I was forbidden to use it by my US govt. contract employer. 12 bloody years of spasms and pain without CBD's help, until I quit my job & got onto a state medical cannabis program. Thanks a lot, USA (facetiously); Genuine thanks to the state of NM.

oQ

"You can't spell healthcare without THC"
seen on facebook

Marijuana Memes

Hard hitting documentary. erach and everyone on the planet should have access to marijuana for it's medicinal benefits.

jim jones

Making grass legal reduces the demand for Mexican pot... sounds good, right? wrong... now they produce heroin for the us... unintended consequences... something the libs never consider...¨if it feels good, do it.